It is known in the art to apply various substances and materials to a desired surface and to remove contaminants, rust, debris, paint, etc., from a surface by the use of blasting media. The blasting media may consist of a dry or a liquid material or a substantially uniform combination thereof formed as individual unitary particles.
Traditionally during a blasting operation, the media is mixed by using various sized particles of the same kind or type of media, i.e. all of the media particles generally have the same composition. Some blasting media known in the art attempt to combine abrasive components and absorptive components, for example, in the same particle. The resulting particles must be absorptive enough to remove liquids and control dust while, at the same time, be aggressive enough to remove contaminants and debris, e.g. rust, paint, oil, etc., which has adhered to the surface from which it is to be removed.
Using a single kind or type of particle with abrasive and absorptive components incorporated therein leads to the problem of recontamination of the surface being treated once the media absorbs a significant amount of contaminants and is re-used. Another problem is that the abrasive and absorptive properties of the particles are compromised by combining the components' functions in a single particle. In addition, such combination does not allow an operator to customize the media, during use, to take into consideration variations in the amount of contaminants and debris contained on a particular area of the surface to be cleaned and may lead to excessive consumption of the media, e.g. if the media does not contain a great enough abrasive content for the particular surface to be cleaned or a great enough absorptive content, additional media is required to ensure adequate surface treatment.